The EU is a technocracy, and this is playing into its green-energy stances.
The EU is a technocracy. The opportunity offered by climate fundamentalism for bureaucrats who like to command and control is one that some of its officials are unable to resist.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The “biggest danger” to the European Union and its climate efforts is the mainstream parties normalizing the far right’s anti-green assault, the EU’s environment commissioner warned.
Virginijus Sinkevičius told Politico that he’s concerned to see moderate politicians adopting far-right talking points on green legislation ahead of next year’s European Parliament election.
Perhaps it’s because those moderate politicians have noticed that voters in the EU are beginning to realize what climate fundamentalism will mean for them and are showing signs of concern. These concerns are likely to increase as the net-zero ratchet tightens in the next few years, and that’s why Sinkevičius (who Politico notes is “considered to be close to the European Greens”) is trying to use guilt by association in an effort to stop more mainstream parties from paying attention.
Politico:
“In 2019, we saw traditional parties being very green” following large-scale climate protests across the globe, he said. “That opened a window for the European Green Deal, and then we had the victory of [U.S.] President Biden — the first thing he did, he returned to the Paris Agreement,” which his predecessor Donald Trump had quit.
Now, “the times have changed significantly. We face bigger uncertainty, pressure with regards to consumer prices . . . and not to mention the war,” he said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But backsliding isn’t the answer, Sinkevičius warned.
“It would be a big mistake to start backtracking now,” he said. “We wouldn’t look serious in front of our partners.”
“We wouldn’t look serious in front of our partners.”
What kind of argument is that?